John Bull Traditional English Ale

Well-Known Member

Brewed 7/07/14 John Bull traditional English. Brewed short to about 19l and pitched at 22 degrees. Og 1052/1054 making it 5.6% to 5.9%. Brewed with 500g medium spay malt and 500g brewing sugar. Taste at brew, rich, sweet malty with a bitter aftertaste. Lovely! Taste test at 16/08/14. Rich red colour with good white creamy head. First one I tried was a small bottle and over carbonated which mixed the sludge with the beer...threw it away. Second is this one. Taste is quite strong at first like a barley wine..with an iron/metallic but also hoppy and malty turning later into a sweetish malty flavour..warming. A nice beer this but not a session beer!

Update at 5/10/11 beer head, white creamy but not long lasting, falling to white bubbles on surface so not flat. Colour dark brown/red and very clear. Smells like a strong winter ale malty/nutty not massive amount of aroma. Taste, strong barley wine/ale, slightly bitter at first and sour with medium depth but that bitterness of strong ales follows to the back the mouth and after drinking. One for those winter nights in front of a fire!

Regular.Supporting Member

I have one of these nearly ready for bottling. Activity seems to have ceased but the reading is still at 1012 which seems a bit high for a finished fermentation.
OG was 1052 which seems a trifle low as I added and extra 750g malt and dextrose in addition to a kilo of BKE and brewed slightly short to 21l.

Well-Known Member

I have one of these nearly ready for bottling. Activity seems to have ceased but the reading is still at 1012 which seems a bit high for a finished fermentation.
OG was 1052 which seems a trifle low as I added and extra 750g malt and dextrose in addition to a kilo of BKE and brewed slightly short to 21l.

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Just checked..my FG was also 1012 which was steady so that was when I bottled it.

Regular.Supporting Member

Thanks Lesinge. In that case I'll bottle over the weekend.
It's odd but I could find out almost nothing about this kit, your thread is one of the very few google hits, so I'll post my verdict here after it's conditioned.

Well-Known Member

I like this kit, I have 2 more to do when I get some work finished on the upstairs.

I made one with 1kg brew sugar, 125ml honey, brewed 23ltrs went from 1060 to 1010 then was bottled with a tea spoon of white granulated sugar. Left for 5weeks in a warm cupboard, first bottle drank............ Didn't touch the sides, was great. Lovely dark blood red colour creamy head.

Senior Member

I'm drinking one now. It was my first brew so a couple of mistakes. First was I used untreated tap water and I didn't take the OG. FG was under 1010. I also followed the instructions so only brewed for a week and it seems to me like its only 2-3% abv. I think The unusual bit is I cant use brewers sugar as I have a food intolerance to maize. Instead I used cane sugar. I had my first drink 2 weeks after bottling and it and it wasn't great but had a few over Christmas. Its now over a month old and is a lot nicer although it could use more body and some hops. I may make it again but if I do I will use malt extract, add some hops and let it ferment for a couple of weeks.

Regular.Supporting Member

Bottled mine yesterday. Had the obligatory taster and I have to say I agree at this stage 100% with Lesinge; he describes the taste perfectly. Barley wine was the first thought that came to me.
I'll post back here in a couple of months when I've tried a ripe one.

New Member

I just bottled this kit (40 bottles) but I added 500g spraymalt- medium, and 500g demerera and 100g challenger hops near the end. all fermented on the heating tray for near two weeks and now im waiting. im very excited. how long might it take? two weeks anyone? ps, I know I added a lot of hops.

Brew NumptySupporting Member

I just bottled this kit (40 bottles) but I added 500g spraymalt- medium, and 500g demerera and 100g challenger hops near the end. all fermented on the heating tray for near two weeks and now im waiting. im very excited. how long might it take? two weeks anyone? ps, I know I added a lot of hops.

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twobrews, I've got this one to do, it'll be interesting to see how yours turns out. When trying a new beer I give it two weeks in the warm but I take one out and give it 2-3 days in the fridge and then I try it for the first time. I brew on a Saturday so it goes in the fridge on a Wednesday and I drink it on the Friday. Tomorrow night I try my John Bull IPA for the first time, can't wait.

Well-Known MemberSupporting Member

John bull ipa is my fav can kit, tho I've not done many. Has anyone made both and could explain the taste difference?

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Just finished bottling both. The IPA and the English ale. Both brewed slightly short to 21 L with 1kg of dextrose and 500g of LME. OG of IPA was 1048 and fg 1008, so 5.2%. The English ale, 1047 and 1008 so 5%.
Will leave in the warm for a couple of weeks then condition in the cool for as long as I can resist....
I will report back.

P.s both took four weeks in the FV at a steady 20deg. No heaters used...

Member

did this kit yesterday with some uk hops I had left over from previous brews,

1x kit can
1x 1.5kg light lme
350g dextrose
40g pilot hops @60min
25g whitbred golding hops @15min
5g endeavour hops @15mins
irish moss tab @10mins
1x wilko's gervin yeast
1x coopers yeast(left over from a previous brew)
boiled the lot in 10lt of water in my big stock pot then cooled it down to 35 degrees before straining it through a muslin bag straight into the fv, topped it up to 25lt with tap water giving a temp of 24 degrees so i pitched the yeast.
it's sitting at the top of my cellar stairs now where it is a constant 18-19 degrees at this time of year and is bubbling away nicely.

Well-Known MemberSupporting Member

Ok, as promised, a report back.
Both have been bottled for nearly six weeks now and the truth is the IPA is nearly gone ! The difference between the two is not huge, the IPA is stronger and more hoppy, as you would expect. The English ale is smoother and a little creamier with a tighter head that lasts well in the glass.
They both have remnants of the home brew twang that is disappearing with time so I have taken the advice of a fellow forum member and secreted three bottles of each in a taped up box and into my shed with a note on 'not to be opened for six months! ' apparently I will never drink 'young' beer ever again when I taste the six month stuff. Been meaning to do it for a while now but never quite got round to it.....
I will report back.

Member

had this in the fv for two weeks now and its still bubbling every 5-6 minutes,took a hydrometer reading yesterday which was 1012 so I will probably leave it for another week and see where it is at the weekend, smelt lovely mind.

Member

I'm just drinking this now. Brewed as per instructions except I did a light touch of dry hopping (fuggles in for just a day). End result is perfectly drinkable though slightly bland. If I did this again, then I'd brew a little short & be a bit more adventurous with the dry hopping. Alternatively, perhaps their IPA might suit me better? I'll just have to try one :)

MemberSupporting Member

I'm just drinking this now. Brewed as per instructions except I did a light touch of dry hopping (fuggles in for just a day). End result is perfectly drinkable though slightly bland. If I did this again, then I'd brew a little short & be a bit more adventurous with the dry hopping. Alternatively, perhaps their IPA might suit me better? I'll just have to try one :)

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When I did the JB IPA some months ago it was very much an English IPA. So if you are expecting it to be 'bursting with citrus' similar to American IPAs you may be disappointed unless of course you have a big bag of American hops to be used up.

Hammered.....Supporting Member

I have an English ale left and a couple of tins of coopers dark malt extract...loads of maris otter;crystal,carapils,choc etc...any suggestions? ?
Lots of yeast choice too....SO4, wilko,cml American, real,wheat,cali..